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Is the lake level controlled ?


ea93105

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We are only a block away from the carretera, but homes closer to the lake in Riberas and other communities will have nonfunctioning septic systems if the lake keeps rising.

Seems to me that the lake is at 100% regardless of what they say.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, ea93105 said:

We are only a block away from the carretera, but homes closer to the lake in Riberas and other communities will have nonfunctioning septic systems if the lake keeps rising.

Seems to me that the lake is at 100% regardless of what they say.

 

 

It was so high some years ago, according to one old timer, that the former Posada (now Isabel) was flooded inside and people had to wade to the bar.  In 2010, it flooded the Ajijic Malecon and the park as well as the parking lot.  The new Malecon was built later.  It's high, but it's been higher. (I lived here in 2010.)  It has been bad news for some of the lower places in Riberas.  A friend had his house flooded.  The septic system ...not good on that occasion.

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Official figure I believe is now 80 percent.  Tropical storm could bring a lot more rain to the watershed later this week.

We were here the last time it got really high and flooded the Ajijic Malecon.

Riberas needs sewers.  Problem there is much greater than just how high the lake is.  Lot size is far below the necessary size to use septic systems.  Riberas is already polluting the ground water and lake.

 

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12 minutes ago, tomgates said:

Lake is only 65% or so full. Full would put it a couple blocks up from the lake in Ajijic. Then it would be high enough to exit out to the Santiago River. 

The lake dumps into the Rio Santiago in Ocotlan year round.  One drives right over the river when entering the town.  The Lerma comes into the lake at La Barca.

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The lake has not sent water to the Rio Santiago in about 40 years. Look at the area at Google earth and you will see that the water under the two bridges that you drive over in Ocotlan does not come from the lake but from a river that comes from north east of Ocotlan (I can't remember the name of that river at the moment-Zula?). A cota of 97 is needed for water to flow out of the lake (this last happened in 1977). The current lake level is about 96.45.

The Lerma river passes through La Barca but enters the lake about 15 kilometers west south west of La Barca.

The lake level is only crudely controlled  by opening or closing dams on the Lerma river (the main river that flows into the lake).

There is a dam on the lake outlet but lake water hasn't reached it in years.

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4 hours ago, Yo1 said:

The lake dumps into the Rio Santiago in Ocotlan year round.  One drives right over the river when entering the town.  The Lerma comes into the lake at La Barca.

YO1, why Post something as fact that just isn’t but is just a guess based on looking at a map.  

BTW, did anyone know that Lake Chapala is about 150 deep in places?!?    😂

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I might be called the Santiago there but the water doesn't come from the lake but from the river to the north east. It took me awhile to figure that out. The first time I saw the Santiago river (1987) I was fascinated. This was in the state of Nayarit closer to the ocean. A huge bridge on highway 15 crosses it there. The river is very wide and slow moving there with many gravel bars where people wash their clothes, horses, and cars. Since then I've seen it a number of places upstream including El Salto where there are water falls (the Niagara of Mexico). Above that it goes past the town of Atotonillo where it used to power grain mills. As you get closer to Lake Chapala it gets smaller and smaller. Eventually all the water in it comes from the Zula river-but none from Lake Chapala but it may again some day.    

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6 minutes ago, RickS said:

YO1, why Post something as fact that just isn’t but is just a guess based on looking at a map.  

BTW, did anyone know that Lake Chapala is about 150 deep in places?!?    😂

The lake is surprising. If you look at a lake that size in British Columbia it would probably be 400 or 500 feet deep but Chapala is only about 30 feet deep. 

It took me awhile to figure out what river is what at Ocotlan as it is quite confusing from the ground. 

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1 minute ago, RickS said:

Oh, cedric, on a map I saw it looked like it was very deep......

You weren't looking at a bathymetric map obviously ;>).

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Rick: I remember more than ten or 16 years ago that we had a discussion about the lake depth on one of the forums, perhaps here. I remember  that it was very shallow but that there was one area that was about 45 something deep. I can't remember for the life of me whether we were talking in feet or meters.  But the information came from the then Lake Chapala Port commissioner. Yes we had and perhaps still have a Lake Chapala Port commissioner. His office was at that time in the city of Chapala.

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On 10/21/2018 at 1:34 PM, tomgates said:

Lake is only 65% or so full. Full would put it a couple blocks up from the lake in Ajijic. Then it would be high enough to exit out to the Santiago River. 

Thanks for the info re Santiago River.  I have often wondered what the lake empties into.

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14 minutes ago, Arroyos said:

Thanks for the info re Santiago River.  I have often wondered what the lake empties into.

The lake doesn't empty into a river only to the aqueducts supplying water to Guadalajara. 

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56 minutes ago, Arroyos said:

Thanks for the info re Santiago River.  I have often wondered what the lake empties into.

I looked at a satellite photo and from the swampy area at the east end of the lake you can clearly see the river between Ocotlan and Cutizeo

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1 hour ago, Yo1 said:

I looked at a satellite photo and from the swampy area at the east end of the lake you can clearly see the river between Ocotlan and Cutizeo 

It is swampy there but no water flows from the lake to Rio Santiago. Walk it and you will see. When I look at satellite photos I can definitely see what used to be the river channel but you can't see any continuous water. You can see some water in that channel adjacent to the lake and at the south end (from the Zula river) but no water in between. If you don't believe me consult the hydrologists or a number of books on the lake or Tony Burton (especially his book Geo-Mexico.) or articles from the Guadalajara Reporter or the guys who operate the large "plant" near Santa Cruz where the Guadalajara aqueduct takes water from the lake or better yet try kayaking down it.

I used to study many satellite photos for such when I worked for the Fish & Wildlife.

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2 hours ago, RickS said:

cedros me thinks you might as well give up on this one.  Everyone seems to want the lake to empty into the Santiago regardless of what you say!

 

Yes, ignorance can be bliss.

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12 minutes ago, Yo1 said:

It's hard to believe that there's no outflow of the lake when there is a current in the lake.  Up one side and down the other, east to west.

Currents in this lake are more likely caused by wind and temperature differences. I will check the research reports and see what they have to say about currents.

The major inlet to the lake is about 12 kilometers south of where the outlet should be so if water flow from the inlet to the outlet was causing a current the current would probably only be at the far east end of the lake where both inlet and used to be outlet are (far from the main body of the lake).

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